The tension in the hallway this morning, you could cut it with a spoon.

Abby didn't come to school today.

We've got Carter and Mason at my locker with me.

Ryan at the other end of the hall.

And not only that, but I turned to talk to Mason and Carter, and Cam is walking right up to me.

He cleared his throat. "Can I talk to you." He looked down at his feet.

"Saunders, I have plenty of conversations to have, and one with you, isn't one." Mason shook his head.

"I wasn't asking you you idiot. Olivia, can I talk to you?" He rolled his eyes.

"About." Mason crossed his arms.

"Why don't you mind your fucking business. I'm not talking to you."

"Excuse me." Mason raised his eyebrows.

"Mason it's fine. Why don't you two, go, talk to Ryan or, whoever the hell you need to talk to." I looked up at him.

"Ol." He sighed.

"I'll come find you." I nodded.

He shook his head, leaned down, and kissed me. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Well, here goes nothing." Carter hugged me. "I'm right down the hall and I'm in a swinging mood." He whispered.

"Yes, I feel like swingy is about to be your natural state bud." I pat his chest. "Go, I'm fine."

They both walked down the hall to Ryan's locker, and the first thing Ryan did was hug Carter.

"What do you need Cameron." I crossed my arms.

"I uh. I was re-arranging my room last night, and I found this." He reached in to his pocket and pulled a chain out.

"My locket." I looked up at him.

He nodded. "I mean, you got a new one." He pointed at my neck. "But you said this one meant a lot to you. I figured you'd want it back." He handed it to me.

"It does, thank you." I nodded.

"I uh, I never understood how a little circle could mean that much to someone. I never even knew what was in it, and you said you couldn't get it to open. Do you remember what was in it?"

I shook my head. "Mason got it for me for my 8th birthday, it's been jammed since I was like 11."

"Push the button." He nodded.

I gave him a look, but pushed the button. And it actually opened.

It had a picture of me and Mason on the inside.

I just looked at Cameron. "I got it open." He shrugged.

"Thank you." I nodded.

He sighed and put his hands in his pockets. "I've uh." He cleared his throat. "I've been beating myself up, thinking that Mason ruined our relationship. Him stealing you from me. And, I got that opened last night just because I wanted to know what was in it, and realized, that, you may have been my girlfriend, but, your heart was, never really mine." He shook his head. "And, I can't fault you for that. But what I can do, is, apologize." He nodded.

"Cameron you don-"

"Can I finish, please, and then I'll leave you alone." He pursed his lips.

I cleared my throat and nodded.

"I'm sorry. For the way I've been treating you since everything happened." He looked down. "For what I said to Mason when we were together. And, I don't think you're a lying bitch whore. At all. Just, you're the first girlfriend I've had that I actually saw going somewhere, and I know it's been months, but it hurts still. Because I did love you. But uh, you're happy. That, that should be important, so I'm gonna go, let you be happy." He nodded and started walking away.

I sighed. "Cam."

He turned around and raised his eyebrows.

"I didn't lie to you." I shook my head. "I wasn't interested in Mason when we were together. I didn't even realize I was in to Mason until after that first time and I still didn't know how I felt. But, you did, have my heart you know." I nodded. "You gave me one of the best Summers of my life. Don't ever think that it was nothing to me. You were my first boyfriend Cameron. That means a lot to me."

He sighed. "I'm probably going to get rocked in my shit for this. But." He walked back over, and simply, he leaned down and kisses my cheek. "Thank you."

"For?" I gave him a look.

He took a deep breath. "Giving me what I needed to finally let you go." He nodded. "Have a good trip this weekend." He gave me a small smile and walked away.

I sighed and looked down the hall to Mason, Carter, and Ryan all just, watching.

I waved Mason down, and boy did he come walking faster than shit.

"Good boy for staying." I nodded.

"Yeah, well there was no yelling, and it looked personal. Half tempted to go rip his fucking lips off." He put his hands in his pockets.

"That, wasn't a 'I'm still in to you' kind of kiss." I shook my head.

"Can you give me another reason to kiss someone?" He raised his eyebrows.

"To say goodbye." I shrugged. "He was uh, re-arranging his room last night, and found this." I held the locket up.

"Is this the one I got you, like, 9 years ago?" I grabbed it and looked at it. "Hasn't it been jammed?"

I nodded. "He got it open."

He pushed the button and just smiled. "Wow." He shook his head.

"He apologized, for everything. How he's been treating me, how he's been talking to me, what he said about me, everything. And now I think he and I are going to actually move on from this. Be civil."

"Well good baby." He nodded. "I'm uh, about to go have a similar conversation."

"With?" I gave him a look.

"Well, Carter and I made a deal yesterday. If he talked to Ryan, I have to talk to Kalum."

"Why wouldn't you talk to Kalum." I shook my head.

He sighed and glanced down. "Ol I haven't talked to Kalum."

"What, today?"

"No, uh. I haven't talked to him since you guys got back from state college."

"Mason, that was over a month ago." I sighed.

"I know." He nodded. "I just haven't had it in me."

"He's your cousin." I nodded.

"Yeah, my cousin who you have fucked twice Olivia."

As soon as he said it, he closed his eyes and sighed.

I pursed my lips and nodded. "Well, I'm gonna be late for trig." I closed my locker.

"Ol." He shook his head.

"No." I held my hand up. "It's uh. It's cool. You're right. I'll see you later." I turned and started walking away.

"Babe." He yelled.

I turned the hall and basically sprinted up the stairs.

I have managed to get past him sleeping with Kallie.

Whom he as also slept with twice.

But he just, can't get over it.

We both made mistakes.

But clearly I'm still on the hook for mine.

Well, stupid thing to say.

Incredibly stupid, and apparently it was so stupid to the point where she skipped second period.

I really can not say the right thing lately.

Sienna walked in with Carter and they sat on either side of me.

Sienna just looked at me and raised her eyebrows.

I sighed. "I know, wrong thing to say."

"All I'm going to say is, you, have slept with Kallie twice, and she forgave you." She nodded.

"Yeah, Kallie's not her family."

"You're right Mase, she's not." Carter shook his head. "But she didn't have to forgive you. She did because she loves you. And you love both of them."

I pursed my lips and nodded. "Can you bring him to the gym at lunch?"

Carter nodded.

"You can't blame her for clinging to the person who saved her." Sienna shook her head. "I did. Just the only difference, is I'm in love with Connor. She's not in love with Kalum. She loves you."

"I don't think I've heard you two even come close to saying that word." I shook my head.

"Because we haven't. Doesn't mean we don't." She shrugged. "And this isn't about Connor and I. It's about you, fixing things with 2 people you love, because you just upset the hell out of your girlfriend. So I suggest, talking to him first, going over after dance, using the Kalum conversation to talk to her."

"Yes ma'am." I nodded.

"Good boy." She pat my back and smiled.

This class without Olivia completely dragged out.

It felt like it lasted 4 hours, and the other 2 before my lunch felt like it lasted maybe 15 minutes.

I went to the gym for lunch to shoot around, and about 10 minute after I got in there, the door opened, and Kalum and Carter came rolling in.

Kalum looked at me.

Then rolled his eyes, looked at Carter, and started walking toward the door.

"Kal." Carter grabbed his arm.

"No Car, it's fine. He doesn't want to talk to me that's on him. I tried." I shrugged.

"No!" Carter yelled. "Now damn it Kalum, you have been my best friend for 6 years, and Mason, you're now one of them too. You two are cousins for Christ sake so you, are going to turn your ass around and go talk to him." He spun Kalum around and pushed him toward me. "And you, are going to remember what Sie and I said." He pointed at me.

"There is nothing for us to talk about." Kalum shook his head.

"How about he's your cousin and you fucked his girlfriend." Carter nodded.

"Well then, right down to the nitty gritty." I nodded.

"She wasn't his girlfriend either time." Kalum crossed his arms.

"No but the second time you knew how I feel about her." I crossed my arms.

"Well pardon me, I didn't know I had to revolve my sex life around you." He held his hands up.

"It wasn't just sex Kalum, and you know it." I shook my head.

"You're right, it wasn't." He shook his head. "Have you ever maybe considered that I felt the same way about her? Sex actually means something to me Mason, I don't go around fucking everything that walks."

"Neither do I!" I yelled.

"Dude, you'd fuck a Gatorade bottle if it had a pulse." He nodded. "The reality is, neither Olivia nor I thought that you two would get back together, because of Connor. Neither of us knew that he would ever do what he did. I fully intended on making things work with Olivia and I, until I saw you walking around dead all god damn week. I gave up something good for you, and what do you do, you fucking avoid me for over a month like we aren't blood. SO you know what Mason. Yes, I fucked your girlfriend. I fucked your girlfriend before she was your girlfriend. I fucked her after you messed up. But she's YOUR girlfriend. As far as I can tell, she's always been yours! So what the hell are you so worried about me for?" He yelled.

"Because it's you! You're you! You're her fucking Carter, Kalum!"

"Ouch." Carter nodded. "I get it but still fresh my guy."

"Sorry." I scrunched my face.

"What in the hell does that even mean." He rolled his eyes.

"Carter, you can go, because I don't want to hit a nerve." I nodded. "Just, stand in the hall please."

"I will do that." He nodded. "You, stay!" He pointed at Kalum.

I waited for him to close the gym door behind him before I started again.

"You and your fucking need to save everyone Kalum. You've always done it, especially with Olivia!"

"Oh so, me caring about her makes me the bad guy? Understood Mason." He nodded.

"No Kalum, you can care about her while keeping it in your pants! Instead, you decided 'oh hey, she's hurting, let me have sex with her to see if it'll help.' It made it worse!"

"Neither of us planned that Mason!" He yelled. "All I intended to do what take her to a concert but you couldn't just leave her alone for a fucking night! You up and drunk texted her after you tried to have sex with another girl. She was fine the whole day until you did that and the dam broke! She moved on me! Not the other way around! She told you all of this!"

"Yes, because my first instinct when a girl says 'take away the hurt' is 'hey, lets have sex' makes perfect fucking sense when she's hurting OVER ANOTHER GUY!"

"Well Mase the hurts gone. You have her! So congratulations!"

"I almost didn't have her! If you wouldn't have ended things that day of the competition, she would've been with you!" I screamed.

"Oh bull shit!"

"I asked her the other fucking night Kalum! I asked her if you wouldn't have ended it if you two would be together instead of her and I, and she said yes! It's been in my head for over a fucking month, along with the thought of you fucking my girlfriend. It's on constant replay over and fucking over again in the back of my head! When I leave in the fall, guess who is going to be here to save her again when she misses me! You, because that's what you do Kalum! I never in my life would picture you being the guy I have to worry about because I love you! You say you love me. But if you loved me, why in the hell would you do it when you know that I am bat shit crazy ass in love with her! Every single time you have asked me to stay away from a girl you're interested in, I have! I've kept Connor, and Ben away from them too! I have never done that to you. I've never gone near a girl that you've showed any interest in! So why! Knowing everything we had gone through or were going through, why would you do it!"

He closed his eyes, sighed, and rubbed a hand down his face. "Mason, you know I love you." He shook his head. "And I did it, because she asked me to. I asked her time after time if she was sure. I can't stand here and tell you it was a mistake and that I'm sorry because it wasn't a mistake and I'm not sorry about it. But, I can stand here and promise that it's never going to happen again. I really didn't think you guys would get back together, but, once the bliss of the weekend wore down, I saw how hard she was forcing herself to move on, and you were holding on for dear life. If I wouldn't have ended things, yes, we probably would've ended up together. But it wouldn't have last because everyone can see that that girl is in love with you. Now me, I can take you avoiding me, I can take the verbal ass whooping, we'll both get over it eventually and you know it. But everyone in the situation was single, and don't forget, you were hurting and went to Kallie. Olivia, she's moved past the whole thing, but Mason, you throwing it in her face, not joking about it but literally throwing it in her face, it's not fair. So, I'm gonna care about her one more time before we hug this out and this conversations over." He nodded and walked over to me. "Put your big boys pants on, and get it through your head that you both, did something with someone you shouldn't have." He crossed his arms. "Stop punishing her for it, when she stopped punishing you. Because the only time she brings up what happened, is when you do. I'm not going to fuck your girlfriend again, but I'm not going to stop being friends with her. It's a thing called trust. And just, stop avoiding me. You could've talked to me about all this a month ago, and I wouldn't have been just as pissed off at you as you are at me. I felt so shitty the morning after it happened Mason, because I do love you. Don't ever think I don't." He shook his head.

I sighed and shook my head. "You said sex means something to you?"

He nodded.

"What did it mean to you." I pursed my lips and looked down.

"The truth?"

I nodded.

"It meant hope that I'd finally get a chance to be with my childhood crush." He nodded. "You knew about that. And the second time, it meant that she trusted me. But to her, it meant trying to be with what she needs over what she wants, but after her and I talked things out when you guys got back together, she realized that you're her want and need. You're everything she wants Mase. And she needs someone whose understanding, and forgiving, and isn't scared to fight for her. So, be what she needs. Because that girl, she's the same exact way. She fought for you. She understands why you did it. And she's forgiven you. Do the same. You be the one to save her now when she needs it. Not the person she needs saved from. Don't hurt her again. Because guys are lining up waiting for you to fail. Prove them wrong. Because I wouldn't have let her go if I didn't think you could do just that."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm a dick."

"You are in fact a dick. But, it doesn't take much to change that. A simple 'I'm sorry.' May work, but I'm pretty sure I'm sorry coming with this topic is getting old for her." He nodded. "Start showing her."

I nodded.

"Now, can we bury this so we can get back to fucking around and not whatever the hell has been going on. Because I'm missing our every other night conversations."

I let out a small smile. "Yeah. It's done."

"Alright then." He pulled me in and hugged me. "Love you bitch."

"Love you." I pat his back and pulled away.

"Lets go eat, yeah?"

I nodded, threw my arm over his shoulder, and we walked out of the gym to Carter waiting in the windowcil. "Buried?"

We both nodded.

"Good." He smiled. "Because I need you two to get me out of this school because I love him and all, but I wanna wing Ryan in his shit."

"Huh?" Kalum gave me a look.

I sighed. "You willing to skip the rest of the day?"

"I guess." He shrugged.

And we did just that, we got Carter out of the school, and we took Carter to do something both of us love to do.

We took him to the field to hit some balls.

Turns out, Carter can smash a baseball.

We explained everything going on with Abby and all, and Kalum now understands why I said he was Olivia's Carter.

They went to Carters for band practice, and I went home to wait for Olivia to get home from dance.

She finally pulled in, and I gave her a good 45 to shower and eat before I headed over.

"I'm going to assume you're the reason she was quiet the whole time we were eating?" Jason looked up from the table, wine glass in hand and raised his eyebrows.

I nodded. "Can I go fix it."

"Preferably before we're stuck with the two of you in an Air BnB all weekend." He nodded.

"Thank you." I sighed and walked through the living room and up the stairs.

I took a deep breath and lightly knocked.

"Homework!" She yelled.

I opened the door and peeked my head in. "Want some help?"

"We both know you're not about to help me with my homework when I've basically done yours since the seventh grade Mason." She shook her head not even looking up from her computer.

"Then, how about I just come keep you company, and apologize profusely until you tell me you love me, in which I tell you that I'm in love with you and that I'm so happy I have you in my life, I'm the luckiest guy in he world to have you, and that I need you to be patient with me because I'm still getting over everything." I walked in and closed the door behind me.

"I've been more than patient with you." She nodded. "But clearly, I'm still on the hook for what I did when you've been swimming free for months now."

I sighed and sat down next to her. "Could you just, imagine for a minute, what you'd be feeling if two people you love, not just one, hooked up because you hurt the person who means more to you more than anything in the world?"